man

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English man, inherited from Old English mann, also man and mon, plural menn,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *mann-.^[5][1][6] It has cognates in every Germanic language,^[7] among them Old Frisian man, Old Saxon man, Old High German man (modern German Mann), Dutch man, Old Norse maðr and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna).^[2][3][4][6] The OED and Hoad note that the Germanic forms belong to two stems, a consonant stem that gave Old English mann and an n-stem that gave manna.^[2][4] Outside Germanic it is compared with Sanskrit मनु (mánu, “human being, man”) and with Slavic words for "man" and "husband".^[3][4][8][7] Its further origin is uncertain.^[2][8] An old explanation connects it with Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”), which would make a man "the one who thinks", but not all linguists accept it;^[5][3][8] a link with Latin manus (“hand”) has also been proposed.^[8] Liberman rejects all of these, and also a connection with homō (“human being”).^[9] According to him, the word is most probably a secularized divine name: Tacitus, in the second chapter of his “Germania”, names Mannus as the mythic forefather of the Germanic peoples.^[9][5] Liberman reconstructs the development as "the circle of the worshippers of Mannus", then "a member of that circle", then "servant", then "human being of either sex" and last "male", and takes Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌽 (gaman, “fellowship; partner”) as the main clue.^[9] He thinks the name itself is probably onomatopoeic or a baby word.^[9] The verb is inherited from Old English mannian (“to furnish with men”), formed from the noun.^[5][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A human being, a person of either sex: Barnhart dates the Old English word to before 725,^[3] and the OED's first quotation is from the early Old English Leechbook.^[2] Old English also used it of a servant or vassal, and of a brave man or hero.^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word's main sense was "human being", and the sexes were told apart with wer (“man”) and wīf (“woman”).^[8][4][7][3] The sense "adult male" appears about 1000.^[5][3][7] In the late 13th century man began to take the place of were, which survives only in werewolf.^[5][3][7] The general sense lives on in mankind and manslaughter,^[5] and woman began as an Old English compound of wīf and man "person".^[8] The other Germanic languages kept both senses at first, but later gave "human being" to derivatives such as German Mensch, Swedish människa and Dutch mens, while English kept both in one word.^[3][7] The Romance words Spanish hombre, Italian uomo and French homme, from Latin homō, went through a similar change from a word for any person to one for a male.^[7][5] Hoad dates the senses "vassal, manservant" to the 12th century, "husband" (now dialect) to the 13th, and "a piece in chess" to about 1400.^[4] Johnson (1755) still gave "human being" as the first sense.^[11] Ayto notes that the sense "person" is now clearly in decline, helped by those who feel that it leaves out women.^[8] As an emphatic form of address, man is common in American slang;^[12] Green's Dictionary of Slang records the suggestion that Black Americans took it up to counter the white use of boy.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 725 – a human being, a person.^[3][2]
• Old English – the human race, mankind.^[2][7]
• c. 1000 – an adult male.^[5][3][7]
• 1087 – verb, to furnish a fort or ship with men, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[2][5]
• 12th century – a vassal or manservant.^[4]
• 13th century – a husband (now dialect).^[4]
• c. 1400 – a piece in chess; verb, to behave like a man, take courage.^[4][5]
• 1627 – verb, to station a crew at a part of a ship, in John Smith's Sea Grammar.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1690s.^[5]
• 1863 – a prehistoric type of human being, in Huxley.^[2]
• 1909 – a type of human of a particular time or place, as in modern man.^[2]
• 2006 – man up, to act in a manly way;^[5] man up had meant to supply with men by 1925.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An adult male human being: Two men and a woman were waiting at the door.^[13][5]
2. A human being of either sex; a person, especially in general statements.^[14][13][2]
3. The human race; humankind: the early history of man.^[13][14][2]
4. A type of human being of a particular time or place, as in Neanderthal man or modern man.^[2][13]
5. A man who works for or serves another; historically, a vassal.^[5][4][10]
6. A piece in chess or draughts.^[4]

Interjection

1. Used to express strong feeling such as surprise, relief or delight: Man, that was close!^[14]
2. Used informally in addressing a person.^[12]

Verb

1. To supply a ship, fort, post or machine with the people needed to run or defend it: The lifeboat was manned by volunteers.^[2][14][15]
2. To take up a position at something and operate it: Two students manned the ticket desk.^[2][15]
3. man up: (informal) to act bravely or toughly.^[5]
4. (obsolete) To supply a place with inhabitants; to people.^[2][14]

Word family

• manless
• manlike
• manlessly
• manlessness
• manness
• overman

Related words

• woman
• mankind
• manslaughter
• werewolf
• manikin
• mannequin

Usage notes

The OED notes that senses of the verb such as "to provide with people" were not originally specific to men, but may be found objectionable by those who take man in the sense "adult male".^[2] Ayto likewise notes that the generic sense "person" is declining partly because many feel that it discriminates against women.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d Liberman, Anatoly (2008), An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press